Hello

On the one hand, it’s the nightmare scenario of the embittered ex calling up years later to offer a reminder of quite how well you did to get out of the relationship – she must have called a thousand times, and “they say that time’s supposed to heal you, but I ain’t done much healing”. But another theory we’ve seen is that this is actually Adele speaking to her broken-hearted self of the past, to apologise for putting herself in the position to endure the unimaginable misery of being dumped. “At least I can say that I’ve tried / To tell you I’m sorry for breaking your heart,” she sings, which might just about lend some credence to that interpretation, since the rest of the song – if addressed to another person – sounds very much like the words of the dumpee rather than the dumper.

Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

Commitment issues, ahoy. “You told me you were ready for the big one,” Adele sings. “I’d be your last love, everlasting, you and me / That was what you told me.” But, abruptly, she’s given him up and is busy sending her love to his new lover. It’s possible some of the logic-jumping is down to co-writer Max Martin, who takes the line that the meaning of lyrics is less important than their sound, a theory he calls “melodic math”. You get a snatch of that when Adele sings that the ex “couldn’t handle the hot heat rising”. Clearly, heat is hot – we all know that – but the extra syllable is a classic piece of Martin scansion. The overall sentiment, though, was expressed rather more elegantly by EE Cummings: “if this should be, i say if this should be- / you of my heart, send me a little word; / that i may go unto him, and take his hands, / saying, Accept all happiness from me. / Then shall i turn my face, / and hear one bird sing terribly afar in the lost lands.”

I Miss You

This one, Adele says, is “about intimacy on every level. It’s about sex, it’s about arguing, one of the most intimate moments in my life”. Which means that I Miss You, at least, is not about the legendary ex, but her current partner – and father of her child – Simon Konecki. So, “I love the way your body moves / Towards me from across the room / Brushing past my every groove / No one has me like you do” is undoubtedly affirmative, but Adele didn’t become the biggest star in the world by telling everyone how happy she is, so the chorus sinks back into the emotional twilight: “I miss you when the lights go out / It illuminates all my doubts / Pull me in, hold me tight / Don’t let go, baby give me light.”

When We Were Young

Adele’s success is built on being an everywoman: her songs are specific enough to sound true, but general enough that they sound less like a personal statement of despair than a hug from someone who knows exactly what you’ve been through. When We Were Young – co-written with Tobias Jesso Jr – might be an unmemorable song, but it opens with a great example of that, as Adele finds herself at some party, where “Everybody here is watching you / Cause you feel like home / You’re like a dream come true / But if by chance you’re here alone / Can I have a moment / Before I go? / Cause I’ve been by myself all night long / Hoping you’re someone I used to know.” Who hasn’t been there?

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Remedy

Just in case you’d forgotten, Adele wants to remind you that “every story has its scars”. This time, though, she’s singing not about herself but to someone else, to whom she makes the promise “that I will be your remedy”. And just in case you’d forgotten something else, she positions herself in the lineage of the classic soul writers, because “no river is too wide or too deep for me to swim to you”. It’s a recognisable genre of song – as Alexis Petridis points out in his review of 25, this is basically the same message as Fix You – yet for all the apparent generosity of its message, there’s something intensely self-aggrandising about this style of song. Yes, it says, you may be desolate/heartsick/depressed, but I have the power to make things right. Really? Are you sure?

Water Under the Bridge

And we’re back to the heartache. On the one hand, she wants him. On the other, she knows he’s not a good bet. “I want you to be my keeper / But not if you are so reckless.” She can’t let him go, but she can’t let him stay. All she wants is to be let down gently, because “our love ain’t water under the bridge”.

River Lea

The most intriguing lyrical proposition, based on its title. The Lea rises near Luton and flows south, though north east London, to the Thames, passing through Tottenham, where Adele grew up. Its valley is symbolic of the changes to London across the centuries – in the 17th century, a manmade tributary of the Lea, the New River, was made to divert clean drinking water to London; this century, the lower Lea Valley was completely reshaped for the 2012 Olympics. Adele uses the river as the explanation for the way she is, seeing in its polluted waters the causes of her relationship failures – “It’s in my roots, it’s in my veins / It’s in my blood and I stain / Every heart that I use to heal the pain … I blame it on the River Lea.”

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Love in the Dark

Again, Adele is trying to get out of a relationship, but there’s no defiance this time. This time she’s the one who’s no longer in love, but feeling the stigma of the one who has to be cruel: “Take your eyes off me so I can leave / I’m far too ashamed to do it with you watching me.” It’s as if the act of breaking up with someone renders one naked, with every blemish exposed, hence the need for darkness. This is a lyric set that will resonate with those caught in unhappy relationships – they’ll pore over it, seeking the justification for what they know they need to do.

Million Years Ago

In recent interviews, Adele has spoken about how unnerving she found the process of becoming an international superstar. It was, she told the Observer, “almost like an out-of-body experience. I remember my mum asking, ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong?’” She spoke about how differently people react to her now: “When I walk into a room full of people that I don’t know, they stop talking. And I understand that. I get it. Because I’ve done it myself in the past.” Million Years Ago seems to be addressing those themes: “I feel like my life is flashing by / All I can do is watch and cry … When I walk around all of the streets / Where I grew up and found my feet / They can’t look me in the eye / It’s like they’re scared of me.” If it’s not quite Nirvana’s In Utero, it’s a gentle reminder to an audience who might spend their Saturday nights watching The X Factor that fame makes promises on which it can’t deliver.

All I Ask

By the album’s penultimate track, it’s hard not to wonder if Adele might perhaps leave the songs about relationships in their death-throes to one side. All I Ask finds her in what she presumes to be her last night with someone, asking to be held “like I’m more than just a friend” and wondering if she’ll ever love again. You will, Adele. He’s called Simon.

Sweetest Devotion

To conclude, some happiness. Adele has finally found “the one that I belong to”, and for him “I’ll be whatever you want me to be”. Once again, it’s as though the lyrics have been focus-grouped for maximum accessibility, which is curious, because her personality is anything but focus-grouped. What would be truly intriguing would be an album whose lyrics reflected the mouthy, funny Adele of her speech, rather than Adele, the Queen of the Lovelorn Ballad.